Barrier fabrics and laminates are used in protective industrial outerwear, lab coats, hospital gowns, drapes, wraps, bandages, and other uses requiring a strong, breathable, drapable and hydrophobic fabric. In the prior art, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,203 to Brock et al., nonwoven laminates have been formed by fuse-bonding one or more layers of spunbond fibers, i.e., extruded thermoplastic fibers of short length and small diameter, with a barrier fabric layer made of continuous thermoplastic filaments. Typically, the continuous filament web is made by extruding thermoplastic polymer to form discrete continuous filaments, and air-laying the filaments in a random, inter-entangled manner on a carrier wire or belt. The spunbond layer or layers are then bonded to the continuous filament web at discrete bonding points by application of heat and pressure.
Other nonwoven laminates, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,657,804 to Mays et al. and 4,684,570 to Malaney, employ a carded or air-laid fabric layer of conjugate bi-component fibers treated with a water-repellent finish. However, such laminates have a relatively high per unit cost, and their water resistance can be relatively low for a given level of air permeability. Wet-laid fabric layers, particularly those employing cellulose fibers treated with a water-repellent finish, have good water repellency and barrier qualities, but are generally viewed as not being bondable to a thermoplastic spunbond layer.